African Film Festival
Feb. 3rd, 2021 11:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soniaPortland OR has an African Film Festival (as in films made in Africa) every year. Movies aren't my thing so I haven't gone, but this year it's virtual and I thought some of you folks might be interested.
Info from Oregon Senator Michael Dembrow's Feb 2 newsletter (scroll down).
Festival starts Friday Feb 5. https://www.africanfilmfestival.org/. Some films are only viewable in Oregon. List of films and availability by location.
Info from Oregon Senator Michael Dembrow's Feb 2 newsletter (scroll down).
Festival starts Friday Feb 5. https://www.africanfilmfestival.org/. Some films are only viewable in Oregon. List of films and availability by location.
As many of you know, I’ve been closely involved with this remarkable film festival, which shows us Africa through African lenses (i.e., through the eyes of filmmakers from throughout the African continent) since its inception in 1990. It runs each February, coinciding with Black History Month. Five weeks long, it’s a community-building, educational, cultural, cinematic experience. It has been a hub for immigrants and refugees new to this country, a chance for them to meet with Oregonians interested in expanding their cultural horizons, engaging in dialogue, and seeing the world through other people’s eyes. It generally takes place at different venues in Portland, most notably and frequently at PCC-Cascade in North Portland.
This year, of course, will be different. This year the Festival goes all-virtual, with the films, Q&As with directors, and a series of “community chats” all available via the CFAF Website. https://www.africanfilmfestival.org/ For those of you outside the Portland area, this is your chance to check it out. You’ll find descriptions of all the films and other resources on the website.
The Festival starts this Friday with a welcoming ceremony that I’ll be hosting, including music from Sudan (the location of the opening night film, You Will Die at Twenty), acknowledgments, and videos about the Festival. Films will then show each Friday and Saturday evening (with a Saturday matinee). Thursday evenings bring documentaries, and the entire final week of the Festival features films by women directors from different parts of Africa. Each Monday evening will feature the zoom “community chats” in which viewers have a chance to talk about the films, ask questions, and get background and context directly from people from the countries and regions featured in the films.
As always, all the films are free of charge and open to the community—which is now unlimited by geography! (though some of the films are limited to viewers in Oregon). Once you download a film, you’ll have five days to watch it. Here’s more information https://www.africanfilmfestival.org/festival/venues/ about this virtual format.
